To the Editor,
The school district’s decision to close all five of the schools located in Cedar and re-open one huge elementary school while completely eliminating Cedar’s high school is extremely disappointing.
Where is the analysis showing that their enhancement plan is more feasible than any of the 20-plus suggestions put forward by the community? Where are the financial studies of cost savings for closures versus renovation costs to the high school and costs for busing students on a daily basis to another area of town?
As a parent of two children in Cedar, I want to know how this “enhancement plan” is making things better for my children. I want to know that all the other ideas have been studied and this is the most cost-effective and educationally enhancing plan available.
Without those answers, I fail to understand how closing the newest high school in the district, the one with higher-than-average graduation and post-secondary attendance rates and busing our kids an hour out of our community to an older high school is “enhancing” anything for my kids.
Please do not disregard our community and our children in your rushed push to balance your budget. Balancing the district’s budget should not come all at the expense of one community in the district; but then the $25,000 new logo is for the Nanaimo-Ladysmith Public Schools so perhaps Cedar doesn’t count.
Ronda SeeleyNanaimo